Rebel Academy: Curse

Chapter One MIDNIGHT

To my king, Fox, and future queen, Magenta,

Your love makes my blood sing.

Please, let me serve you.

Once, I served the King of the Under World's Court. I trained every day to become Lucifer's knight because I yearned for his Light. His spark burned temptingly bright.

I’d have walked into the fire for him because he was the flames.

Yet I was cast into the darkness. But didn’t I deserve to be, since I failed him?

I was the Cursed One. How had I ever thought that the moon would be allowed to love the sun?

When you read this, will you push me down to my knees in the shadows, silence my tongue, and curse me as nothing more than whipping boy?

Want me, want me, want...

I'll be your loyal knight forever, and for a vampire, forever is an eternity of love and blood.

The day in the Under World that I became Lucifer's Cursed, started with dad, Commander Scalds, dragging me into the Crypt for judgment. Scalds’ back was military straight, and his large ash wings beat in a display of dominance.

I curled my own wings around myself, wincing at the way that Scalds’ fingers dug into my arm.

I bit my tongue hard enough to taste my own tangy blood.

Don't make a sound, look down, or flinch at the taunts of the regiment who'd trained alongside me for decades (who would've been my friends if I hadn't been the Cursed One), at my nakedness.

After all, I'd failed the trials to become a knight in the ranks of the First Fallen, the FF. We were the first to Fall from Angel World with Lucifer, even if humans believed that we were vampires.

I wouldn't make trouble now. Didn't I deserve the shame?

I stumbled on a pile of bones, catching my foot on a skull. Scalds tutted, hauling me faster after him, and I hit my hip against a crypt. My world lit up with pain. I curled my hands into fists to keep in the cry.

Bones and blood, what would be the judgment for my failure?

Was I about to die?

My breath hitched, and my pulse pounded in my ears.

The Fallen sprawled on the dusty floor or leaned against the marble walls, watching like this was just another show in the wildness of the Under World.

My chest ached worse, when I caught the pitying gazes of my Midnight Gang. They were my best friends, who sneaked me out at night from under dad’s strict supervision to show me the revelry of the true Under World. We’d swagger to bet on the cage fights in the Bone Carnival or dance for hours in the arms of Blood Lovers.

Lost in a haze of tequila, blood, and the beat, beat, beat of the music, I’d never wanted to open my eyes the next morning to find myself back as Commander Scalds’ cursed son.

Don’t make me open my eyes.

My gang tried to blank their expressions, but their distress trembled through me.

I didn’t deserve their sympathy.

They’d passed the trial. I was the Commander’s own son, and I’d failed.

I’d brought shame on my name.

The fiery violet tips of the Fallens’ gray wings lit up the gloom of the medieval arched court room. I shuddered. This had once been a human cathedral that'd been bombed during one of the human wars. Our Under World was beneath London and built upon their dead.

It'd be a fine thing to explore the living human world, but I'd never even been above ground. There was nothing but the darkness and Lucifer's Light.

Don't let Lucifer kill me. Let dad wield the sword...

My waves of midnight black hair shielded my modesty down to my waist, but I blushed, covering my prick with my hand. On my fangs, I'd dreamed many times of Lucifer summoning me to him and then being stripped. Yet I'd have been a willing alabaster sacrifice on my king's silk sheets. I'd lost myself late at night in the fantasy of his eyes, which would hold me mesmerized beneath him like twin suns.

Without Lucifer there was only shadow.

Had he even noticed me? Even though he'd never spoken to me, could the king love me?

I don't deserve love. I was born to obey. I'm nothing but a curse.

I groaned, as the thought knifed through me. As always, it split my head with a wave of nauseating pain, until I mouthed the words against my will.

"I don't deserve love. I was born to obey. I'm nothing but a curse," I muttered.

Scalds slammed me against a column, chaining my arms above my head, until I scrabbled to stand on tiptoes. The back of my thighs burned, and my arms ached.

To be Fallen was to embrace pleasure in the bedlam of our freedom, but Scalds kept me locked up, forcing me to study harder than any other soldier because he was terrified that I'd infect the rest of the FF. He didn’t know that my brave Midnight Gang broke the rules to show me a glimpse of how joyful life could be. They’d promised me that once the trial came, I’d pass it and become a full FF.

Then I’d be free.

How many nights had I shook, dreaming of my freedom? How many days had I suffered, holding on because of that promise?

Promises were nothing but pain. I’d never be tricked by them again. They were lies, lies, lies…

What was wrong with me?

I swallowed. Why had I been born the Cursed One?

Don't touch, speak, or listen to me, and never, ever love me.

I never knew another name, until I became a Fallen Angel and dared to believe that a creature like me was worthy to claim one.

Midnight.

As dark as my hair, eyes, wings against the paleness of my skin, and the blackness, in which I was hidden away.

"Cursed One," a boy angel once hissed at me. "I see the wickedness bleeding from you."

I'd drawn back, certain not to touch him. I'd infect him. Then he'd be cursed and unloved as well. I'd wrapped my wings around myself, flushing. My heartbeat had been too rapid, and my breathing had become ragged.

Was the curse in my feathers? The tumble of my hair or the strangeness of my mind?

Scalds tilted up my chin; I hadn't even realized that I'd ducked my head. "Never drop your gaze, see, that's for cowards."

I studied the furious gleam in Scalds’ black eyes. His hair was molded like gleaming oil, but he was quivering. I didn't know whether with rage or fear for me. He wore the chocolate blazer of all the FF, which was open over his bronzed muscled chest, and bondage trousers with a thick belt. I glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the regiment who were the devoted enforcers for Lucifer. Today, I should've been standing at their side, rather than hanging in chains.

I gazed longingly at Scalds’ feathered tattoo that marked him out as an initiated FF. The tattoo was inked on his neck, as if his loyalty to his king was the only way that he could breathe.

Lucifer was my breath, even if today, he stole mine.

I tilted up my chin. "I don’t lack courage, Commander.”

Scalds considered me. “You only lack everything else.”

I flushed. Why had I failed the test? I’d fought hard, taken the trial, and studied almost without sleep for the exams. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself demanding that on the heart of pain tell me how I could’ve still failed.

Yet defiance when you were bound for punishment only made things doubly worse.

I could be a good solider in the war against the angels. I'd stand at the wings of my friends; I'd die for them...for my king.

I was more than the Curse corrupting me inside. I was a Fallen warrior. If I could only prove it.

My chest was tight. My pleading gaze met Scalds' hard one. Did I imagine the way that the creases of his eyes softened, just for a moment?

Give me one more chance...

Yet Lucifer was more likely to tear out his own fangs than to give second chances.

When brightness flared above my head, haloing across my eyelids, I blinked. Lucifer's Lights buzzed like fireflies along the roof towards me: Lucifer’s spies.

I gasped, recoiling against the column and shivering as its coldness shocked my naked skin.

Was Lucifer watching?

I twisted in the chains, wrenching at my wrists. Pink prickled across my cheeks and down my neck to my chest. By the shadows, I felt more naked than when dad had stripped me, before leading me in here, like I'd been reduced to a child again who wasn't even able to remove his own clothes.

Or didn't deserve to.

When the lights buzzed around my shoulders, I gritted my teeth, waiting to be seared. Yet the static of their spark thrilled through me like it was stroking me.

Scalds' eyes widened, and he shifted, unsettled. "This unworthy recruit failed the trial." He swung to the FF, clicking his heels together. "How shall I punish him?"

This was it. Let it be over quickly.

All of a sudden, the room shook. I choked, as dust tumbled from the roof. The bone wall glowed violently, before peeling back like ribs in an autopsy.

Had Lucifer truly seen and come here to...what?

I shivered, and the Lights buzzed even louder.

Lucifer stepped through into the Crypt.

My king, king, king...

Was Lucifer here to punish me himself or save me?

Save me, my king. I’d give my life to serve as your knight.

I bit the inside of my cheek viciously. No one saved the Cursed One.

I lifted my chin. I wouldn't look down. I wasn't a coward. Yet why did I have to be chained naked to a column for our first official meeting?

Although, I had noticed that Lucifer enjoyed his angelic lovers to be bound...

The FF straightened, prowling to stand in uneasy ranks.

"Oh goodie, do I get to pick?" Lucifer leaped onto a crypt.

I couldn't help the way that my tongue swept my lower lip at the way Lucifer’s tiny black shorts hugged his behind and how his leather shirt hung open to reveal FIRE branded from one pink nipple to the other. It was a fine sight. I shuddered at the memory of a vivid dream, in which I'd licked across each of those letters, tonguing them as Lucifer had writhed beneath me. At the same moment, Lucifer's Lights flickered across my nipples, and I arched, panting.

Did I only imagine the smirk that Lucifer hurriedly hid?

When Scalds stepped in front of me, I didn't know whether it was to protect or hide me. "My son failed the—"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but as much as I love a spectacle," a howling power that could transform angels to ash flared in Lucifer's eyes, as he leaped off the crypt and stalked towards Scalds, who quivered but didn't back away, "this is my Court. I get to pass judgment, punish, and all that jazz. Hmm, perhaps someone made you king without me knowing? Aren't you the naughty one?"

Lucifer waved his hand, and his leather outfit transformed into sleek black armor like he was going to war. I ached to be the soldier that he wanted at his side.

He was glorious.

His wings surged with demon fire. Over his spiky ash blond hair, a flaming horned helmet flared, as the regiment drew closer like they were enthralled.

Lucifer's Lights surged to meet him, flying to join the fire in his helmet, until his horns touched the ceiling.

Scalds' wings quivered, and he dropped to his knees, ducking his head. I gaped at him.

Was dad a coward now? Had he always been the true coward?

"F-forgive me, my king, I won't f-forget again. I'll obey. You have my loyalty." Scalds' hands clenched on his knee.

Lucifer winked at me, twirling around Scalds like it was the Commander who was the invisible shadow that I knew myself to be. Did Lucifer not know who I was?

By my fangs, don't let him find out...

I didn't expect the gentleness with which Lucifer gripped my chin, stroking my cheek.

He was finally touching me...

He smelled of bonfires, and his wings were warm. My eyes fluttered closed, and my breath quickened.

Touch me again...

"You beautiful, broken thing," Lucifer murmured. "Aren't you lucky that I have a weakness for collecting broken things?"

My eyes snapped open. The world exploded with the sudden brightness of hope.

Want me...

Lucifer clicked his fingers, and the chains melted. He caught me in his arms. The thud of his heart steadied mine.

"He's brought me nothing but shame," Scalds’ voice was hard. "He's cursed."

Hope withered and died. I struggled to back away, but Lucifer's hand clamped around my neck, refusing to let me go. I dreaded his words of rejection and hate. My anguished gaze met his.

"Yikes, somebody's tense." Lucifer grinned. "So, had any fun dreams recently?"

Without meaning to, my gaze dropped to my prick that was rubbing against Lucifer’s thigh and hardening. "You came to me at night, my king…?" Had Lucifer given me those dreams? Had he visited me each night? It was Lucifer's turn to widen his eyes in shock, as I wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his shoulder. I hadn't been alone. "Thank you," I whispered.

"You truly are a snuggle bunny, aren't you, champ?" Lucifer sighed. "I picked you to be my personal and most loyal knight. At night, I was inspiring you with my spark."

He'd chosen me…?

I froze. This was everything that I'd craved.

Don't stop this moment. Let me live in it forever.

"I'm yours," I swore. “Make me your knight eternally.”

It twisted my heart, when Lucifer shook his head. "On my fangs, your daddy's bitterness poisoned it. He wrecked one of my brightest."

Scalds leaped up; his eyes flashed. "The brat's unworthy."

Lucifer spun me against the column, before growing in size and towering above Scalds. There was infinity in his eyes.

It was terrifying: death, war, and anarchy.

"Tsk, bite your tongue. I'm the one who chooses the worthy. My Light shines on them: the cast out and shamed. Have you forgotten why we Fell? We were all deemed unworthy in Angel World. I led us to rebel to free us from shame. I'll bring down the sun if I have to." I shivered. Lucifer meant it. "All I demand is loyalty. Is that, you know, too much to ask?"

He touched his helmet, and flames leapt onto his palm. Then he leaned over me, holding out his hand.

The lights pirouetted. I leaned closer. They were beautiful. I craved their heat.

Lucifer's lips curled into a smile, as the fire settled around my neck. "Wow, others fall to their knees before me or flinch from my flames, but you welcome them like lovers or like you were born to burn."

I don't deserve love. I was born to obey. I'm nothing but a curse.

I winced at the sharp pain, as the thought lanced through me.

"Like I'm born to serve," I replied.

Lucifer's expression darkened, and he pressed his hand to my forehead. "Who made you think like that? Who caged your mind?"

"I...don't know... I'm wrong. I don't think that I've ever been right."

I'd never told anyone that before.

Lucifer pushed my hair back from my forehead. "Shocking truth: there's no such thing as right or wrong." Then he twisted to the rest of the FF. "Pop quiz time. Who scored the highest in the exam?"

When Scalds opened his mouth to answer, Lucifer flapped his wing against him to silence him.

"Midnight," my Midnight Gang chorused, even as they ducked to hide in the shadows at the back of the Crypt.

My eyes widened.

Lucifer glared at Scalds. "Well, that's a shocker, since I’m meant to be punishing him for failing to become an FF. Okay, question two, a toughie now. Who came top in the Trial?"

At my gang’s calls of Midnight, I stiffened again.

Was it true?

No one was denouncing it as a lie, even Scalds. My fists clenched. If I'd scored top, why’d I been rejected and humiliated?

"Dad...?" I questioned, softly.

Scalds barked with laughter that hurt worse than if he'd struck me. "Did you believe that you were ever going to be passed? No one in the FF wants someone like you in their ranks.” He raised his hand to his neck like he was going to choke himself, but instead, clutched the feathered tattoos. “These have a meaning, Cursed One. We all sacrificed in the Fall, and you don’t have the right to wear this emblem or become an elite member. You’re no knight. Perhaps, you could be transformed into a Seducer whore, mind. The army always need someone to serve their needs."

Lucifer snarled, backhanding Scalds. Yet even seeing dad land in a tumbled heap amongst the bones couldn't erase the words that he'd branded into my mind.

Everything had been lies.

I stared out at the regiment that I'd trained so hard to join. Their expressions were hard, amused, or leering. Now that Scalds had called me a Seducer, they'd never respect me.

He'd ruined me.

Even Lucifer's Lights couldn't offer me safety. Yet I'd never wanted to shelter under someone's protection. I yearned to be a knight who laid my life at a king's feet.

Lucifer cupped my cheek like he understood what I'd just lost. "You're cursed." I flinched. It'd been said so many times that I thought it could no longer hurt me. But on Lucifer's lips, it turned me to ash. "But only to be his son." His sneer at Scalds promised pain. "I've made my decision on your punishment."

I stiffened.

Lucifer's wings beat. "Midnight is sentenced to the Rebel Academy."

For the first time, the FF burst into wild outcry, while my gang dropped to their knees like begging had ever changed Lucifer’s sentence before. I barely noticed them, however, because everything had dimmed. My legs were shaky, and my knees would've buckled, but Lucifer held me caged against the column. He stroked along my sides as if calming me.

On my fangs, how would I survive in an academy run by witches? They held a truce with us, but since all other witches were at war with us, transforming the vampires that they caught into familiars, how cruelly would they treat me?

Did I truly deserve exile from the Under World?

When Lucifer danced his lights away from my neck and back into his horns, I whined. I was desperate not to lose his spark.

Lucifer leaned even closer, and his autumnal scent was all that I could breathe, "Don't you want to serve your king?"

"Always."

"Then you can do it safely in the Rebel Academy. Your daddy will be banned from visiting. I'll strike a deal with the bad witches and voila!"

I hated the triumphant gleam in Scalds' eyes like he'd won. Yet why did Lucifer look like he'd won?

I couldn't help the way that my wings trembled. "I'll suffer bravely for you, my king."

Luficer tutted, as he dragged me closer. His breath was hot against my ear. "Don't pout, beautiful. Some serve me on the battlefield or in bed. You'll serve me by escaping your past. If you try hard enough, you'll discover freedom within your prison. One of us at least can have that, hmm?" When he drew back, his expression was flat and distant like he was lost in his own painful past. With desperate daring, I wrapped my wings around him, and his gaze softened. "Oh, I wish that I could keep you. When you're in the light and away from..." He cast a dangerous glance at Scalds, "...the dark of the Under World, you'll learn that you were never anything but blessed."

It's been fifty years since Lucifer sentenced me to the Rebel Academy. Fifty years as a whipping boy to the Princes. Fifty years on my knees to different Masters.

Fifty years of serving, loyalty, and dedication to the spark.

Such a long, long time…

But on my fangs, I don’t feel any more blessed.

Lucifer, do you still think about me? Dream of me? Would you be angry that I’ve found someone new to love or did you send me away hoping that I’d find a new king and queen?

You’d admire the witch’s delicious wickedness and the mage’s courage because I do.

I don't deserve love. I was born to obey. I'm nothing but a curse.

Magenta and Fox, you give me the courage to believe that you want me. I'm no more than a whipping boy, but you accept me as your knight and that’s a fine thing.

Please, want me...

What's a knight without his king? A king without his queen or a queen without her king?

Love me...

Do you ever cry in your sleep and wake more exhausted than the day before? Is that normal or just...?

I cradle this...weariness...to myself. I've been trapped in the Rebel Academy for half a century. I'm proud that as a whipping boy I get to serve. It's what I'm trained to do. But you treat me like you can't see the curse weeping from me, and now I pretend that I'm simply another vampire who one day will be released…free.

Except, my sentence has no end, see, and I'm not the same.

I'll worship you silently in these letters, but you must never read them.

I can’t let you know that you're the blood in my veins, my heartbeat, and my Soul.

I'll share my darkest secrets with nothing but cold paper.

Bleed me out...ask me to die for you...and I'd open my own veins with my fangs.

Let me bleed for you.

Yet you don't want my blood. I wouldn’t like for you to know how warm that makes me feel. Instead, you demand that I hold on for you.

I swore that I wouldn't die, however, and I won't break an oath. I never dreamed that someone would desire me to be theirs. You touch me, until my skin prickles and my wings are aflame, and you kiss me like I'm something precious, the same as your other Immortals.

Sometimes, I even allow myself to believe that.

Kiss me again.

I hunger for it, more even than your magical blood that calls to me. Your lips were the first to ever press to mine. At least, when I wasn’t dreaming.

It’d be a fine thing if you kissed me again.

Help me lose myself. I never want to be found again.

I don't deserve love. I was born to obey. I'm nothing but a curse.

You haunt my every thought; I'm possessed by you. Bones and blood, don't wake me into reality's nightmare. These letters are my friends; they listen to my agony and joy. But they'll never tell.

Fantasy is safe.

In this fantasy, I kiss you each in turn and then whisper good night. I'm wrapped in your arms. You hold me between all of you Immortals in the warmth of your bed. We're in a nest of pillows, rather than cold and alone in my basket on the floor.

Tonight, I won't cry in my sleep.

You don't know that I love you, but that's all right, see. If all you need is my silent service, then you have it forever.

I love you. I love you. I love...

Please, love me.

Goodnight, my beloveds.

I have the honor to remain Your Royal Highness’ most humble, obedient, and faithful knight,